The intestinal microbiota predisposes to traveller’s diarrhoea and to the carriage of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae after travelling to tropical regions

Abstract

The risk of acquisition of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (MRE) and of occurrence of diarrhoea is high when travelling to tropical regions. The relationships between these phenomena and the composition of human gut microbiota have not yet been assessed. Here, we investigated the dynamics of changes of metabolically active microbiota by sequencing total RNA from faecal samples taken before and after travel to tropical regions. We found that the occurrence of diarrhoea during the travel was associated with a higher relative abundance of Prevotella copri before departure and after return. The composition of microbiota, before travel as well as at return, was not correlated with the acquisition of MRE. However, the clearance of MRE one month after return was linked to a specific pattern of bacterial species that was also found before and after return.